An open letter to you all...

My dear friends,

I hope this letter finds you experiencing some positive thoughts and feelings about the coming year.
Your patience with my having taken some personal time away from social media these many months is very appreciated.

As some of you have intuited, Laura and I have been journeying on a different road than you might expect. We are full of love for one another. We are soulmates; now and for always. Even so, a few years ago we began to recognize that some of our fundamental differences were significant enough that we might not be able to resolve them. However, we remained committed to each other and continued to strive together, opening our hearts to change and healing.

Over time, with good counseling and embracing total honesty, we came to realize that indeed we could not reconnect our diverging paths, even though the love we share is an awesome, transcendent love.

Coming to this clarity brought enormous pain and the reality of losing a beautiful dream. The dream so many of us have of finding the one person who will be absolutely everything to and for us. No doubt many of you have, or have had, this dream in your hearts. It is exquisite, fragile and yet somehow immensely powerful. I suppose it’s power derives from the fact that we know, deep in all our hearts, the truth lives: it is always a real possibility that we may actually find such a love. 

Perhaps this love has more to do with a partner, or perhaps it has more to do with our perspective on being alive. As I continue to live and learn, I’m beginning to suspect the latter. In other words, we’ve been given such an extraordinary gift: life itself, that anything that happens in our lives, good or bad, is still a gift. And as such, no less than a miracle.

There’s food for thought, food for our souls. 

We continue to be loving toward one another. We help each other with our pain when we can. But it’s also necessary to have time and space to assist in healing. Often we both turn to close friends for solace. We remain loyal to each other.

It’s come to my attention that some of you have expressed strong feelings towards Laura (perhaps me too). Both of us get that 100% and we’d like to reach out to you with the intention of inspiring some healing thoughts. I know you guys to be wonderfully sensitive and passionate, good people. I have strong faith that if I asked you to look inside and imagine yourselves in a similar situation (some of you, of course, have been here before) you would find there a deep desire for understanding, patience and tolerance from yourselves and the world around you. 

I ask you, entreat you, appeal to you, and lovingly encourage you to offer that understanding, patience and tolerance to Laura and I. We get you. We know you get us. Your support means the world; when you offer it, everyone benefits, everyone sees the light and continues on.

Love,
Ben